Asiana Airlines to sue KTVU-TV over bogus pilot names report

By By Scott Collins

Jul 15, 2013 | 1:12 PM

Asiana Airlines will sue a Bay Area TV station over bogus pilot names it broadcast last week.

Airline spokesperson Lee Hyomin said the report seriously damaged the airline's reputation and that it will file suit to "strongly respond to [KTVU's] racially discriminatory report," according to the Associated Press.

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In a Friday report, KTVU-TV wrongly identified the pilots of the Asiana jet that crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6 as "Capt. Sum Ting Wong" and "Bang Ding Ow." The station later apologized, as did the National Transportation Safety Board, which said that an intern wrongly confirmed the names to the station. Some viewers found the joke names to be racist and offensive.

Asiana said it would file the suit in the U.S., but at least in California, it might find its legal remedies scarce. The state limits the amount of damages that defamation plaintiffs can collect if news organizations retract an incorrect story.

Two passengers were killed in the Asiana crash and a third died later of injuries.